Reply With Quote
Of course no mention of Ga-soft but what would you expect from the guy who idolizes Phil Jackson?
Who are the NBA's tough guys and softies?
by Charley Rosen
There are several categories that attempt to measure the true impact that any given NBA player has on games, the most common ones containing some sort of numerical evaluation. However, there are only two basic iden ies that interest the vast majority of scouts and coaches: Is a player a tough guy? Or is he a softie?
Let's use this yardstick to identify the most significant players in each of these groupings.
Tough guys
The sheer strength of an individual player does not necessarily qualify him as a legitimate banger. Brad Miller, for example, is a muscular, powerful player but at the same time, is far from being deemed a toughie by his peers.
The criteria here include a player's willingness to initiate contact, even when confronted with bigger, stronger adversaries. Another qualification is a player's eagerness to attack the hoop even though he knows he'll be knocked down. On the other hand, under the proper cir stances, a legitimate tough guy has no compunctions about flattening an opponent to prevent an easy shot.
Here, then, is a selected listing of the league's most dauntlessly tenacious performers.
Tony Allen: Getting to the basket is his specialty, even at the potential cost of incurring bruises, sprains and even fractures.
Ron Artest: Ron-Ron talks tough but usually backs up his boasts with sometimes over-the-top bullyboy tactics.
Renaldo Balkman: He doesn't play much these days but tries to include a game's worth of bumping and grinding in his abbreviated rotations.
Raja Bell: His belligerent defense displays no fear of, and little respect for, whomever he's guarding.
Reggie Evans: As a pocket-sized big man, Evans compensates for his shortcomings with his manically aggressive boardwork.
Matt Harpring: He plays basketball like a football player (which he once was) and plays so hard, in fact, that he injures himself more than he does his opponents.
Allen Iverson: He takes even the biggest of hits and keeps driving into the middle.
Dahntay Jones: He often plays defense as though he was involved in an anything-goes street fight.
Jason Maxiell: He relishes contact. Even when he's fouled, he often dispenses a harder hit than the one he takes.
Paul Millsap: If he can touch a loose ball, not even the Jaws of Life can pry it away.
Andres Nocioni: He's not only tough, but also ornery.
Kendrick Perkins: He plays with a perpetual snarl that mirrors his body-bumping game plan.
James Posey: For him, giving an inch on defense is like giving a mile.
Leon Powe: He's another smallish big who believes that basketball is a collision sport.
Kurt Thomas: Of necessity, he gets more physical as he ages. He's the active NBA leader in bruises inflicted on opponents.
Delonte West: In his own quiet way, West never gives up on a play and is never, ever intimidated.
Softies
If all softies are finesse players, not all finesse players are softies (i.e. Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett). But the following players generally avoid contact whenever possible and try to run circle-routes around the most notorious of the league's tough guys.
Michael Beasley: He would rather put up a flipper than try to dunk over or through a nasty big man.
Marcus Camby: His idea of being tough is to take a charge.
Vince Carter: Watch how many fadeaway junk-shots he takes when approaching a crowd of hostile big men.
Brian Cook: He's happy to shuttle between the 3-point lines.
Mike Dunleavy, Jr.: He has to play soft because he's so physically weak.
Josh Howard: He runs the break, drives the baseline and shoots mostly pull-ups so that big men can't catch him.
Steven Hunter: He's a timid 7-footer who plays like a guard.
Kevin Martin: If he was just a mite tougher, he'd be a truly elite player.
Tracy McGrady: He's a leansome version of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
Tim Thomas: He's just another cotton candy powerless forward.
Peja Stojakovic: Don't touch him, and he won't touch you.
And here are a couple of phony tough guys — chest-beating, cheap-shot artists who rarely take on bigger, stronger and/or authentically mean-spirited opponents: Kenyon Martin and Mikki Moore.
Of course no mention of Ga-soft but what would you expect from the guy who idolizes Phil Jackson?
what about carlos "I can't play I have a hang nail" Boozer??
Harpring is a tuff s.o.b.
4 of those tough guys were on the 08 Celtic team. With the team trying to dump Allen to bring in Daniels, only 1 will remain.
Thank, Christ.
Peja! Might be the softest player in the league.
I don't know, I'd have to pick McGrady for that honor.
how is bynum not on that list? soft as crap.
LOL. Artest sure was tough when Ben Wallace wanted to kick the out of him. Real hardcore move grabbing that skinny kid by the face and throwing him into the floor instead of the bigger guy who threw the beer. Also, his toughness was clearly in effect when that fat kid blocked both his punches on the floor.
Ask Gerald Wallace.
Bynum isn't soft. Bad injury luck, but not soft.
What does ornery mean?
Yeah, he's probably about to retire... and God knows I've spent moments cursing his name, but that dude's hard as a coffin nail.
It looks as if it's alphabetical, but it's still hilarious that Tony Allen starts off the list of tough guys. Then Rosen talks about his disregard for injury when attacking the rim. Didn't he up his knee a couple years ago attacking the rim AFTER the whistle blew in an attempt to showtime dunk the ball and getting hung in the process?
Reeeeeeeal tough. Only tough guys get hurt attacking the basket when it's a stoppage of play.
It actually mentions Ga-soft in the headline for softies...
I disagree with him on both these players.If all softies are finesse players, not all finesse players are softies (i.e. Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett). But the following players generally avoid contact whenever possible and try to run circle-routes around the most notorious of the league's tough guys.
Edit: The first moreso than the second, but still... let just put it this way: If KG's turnaround jumper wasn't so reliable, I'd be alot more pissed at him.
look at the vid and decide for yourself
why isnt shaq tough?
VC has some of the nastiest vicious dunks the world has ever seen. I'll take that over tony allen.
I'd add Shaq too, he has fought a handful of centers and some great ones in his time. However he has been bigger than most of them, to his credit, the ones that are bigger aren't worth fighting.
Because he's inert.
Easily the softest player in the league.Brian Cook: He's happy to shuttle between the 3-point lines.
And there is a difference between soft and weak. Pau is weak as . But he's not soft. If our front court was as "soft" as spurfan said it was we wouldn't have won a championship (soon to be two in a row) and made the finals in consecutive years. Sorry but you can't be one of the best front courts in the league and have that kind of success and be soft. Sour grapes as usual.
The goods\precise style.
I agree with this. Pau gives the effort, even if sometimes his effort is limited due to his lack of physical strength.
I agree. The only one capable of causing Shaq pain is Shaq himself. The only way he can do this is by moving and hustling. Two things he doesnt do.
surprised no one said dirk yet lol.
Shaq is neither tough nor soft. We've seen other players get under Shaq's skin and cause him to do some stupid things because he can be mentally weak at times.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
